Author • Turkish literature
Osman Şahin
He was born in Arslanköy, Mersin in 1940. He completed his primary school education in the village he was born and then continued to Diyarbakır Village Institute. After his higher education in Ankara Gazi Education Institute, Department of Physical Education, he worked in Eastern and Southeastern Turkey as a sports teacher in high schools. In 1992, his story The Last Anatolian Nomad (Son Yörük) won second prize in a competition organized by the Sweden Humanist International Association. In the same year he won Ömer Seyfettin Story Award. In 1994 he was awarded with Sait Faik Story Award, in 1998 with Yunus Nadi Award. His first book from Günışığı Kitaplığı is a part of award winner “Bridge Books” collection which is named Nine Months in Katuna (Katuna’da Dokuz Ay, 2009); the book tells the true and legendary story of five young teachers working in a southeastern village school of Turkey. Several stories of Osman Şahin have been translated into various languages and at least 25 of his stories become scripts of famous movie films in Turkey. The films based on his stories directed by very famous Turkish directors and those films are classic ones even today. For his huge effort on literature, he is awarded with City of Mersin Literature Award in 2009; and his contribution to Turkish cinema was awarded with SİYAD Honor Award in 2012 and 23rd Adana Film Festival Honor Award in 2016. Osman Şahin lives in İstanbul and he has two daughters.